Friday, July 18, 2008

Deserted Village at Slievemore

The Deserted Village on Achill Island contains ruins of about 100 stone buildings that line both sides of a pathway about 1 mile long. The abandoned settlement dates at least to the 1100's, with the last known use of the buildings in the early 1900's, when locals used the cottages as booley (or boley) houses.

Booleying is a tradition of moving cattle to summer pastures on higher ground and living nearby in temporary quarters. After the summer, the houses were left vacant when the residents returned to their homes for the winter months.